The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Scholars Fellowship seeks to develop and amplify underrepresented voices and research within the academy and applied humanities spaces. This fellowship helps HBCU-affiliated writers, community scholars, faculty members, and doctoral candidates with their research process through funding, access to academic publishing outlets (journals and presses), public promotion of their work, and professional community/peer support.
Projects of interest can range across the disciplines of traditional, public, and digital humanities, and human-centered social sciences. Preference is given, but not limited to, topics that feature Virginia’s historical significance, engage historically marginalized groups and stories, and touch on broader South Atlantic themes. We are excited to begin offering both short-term (3-6 months) and long-term (9-12 months) options.
The program provides both short-term (3–6 months) and long-term (9–12 months) fellowships. Based on the applicant’s proposed budget, short-term fellowship awards range from $5,000 to $15,000 and long-term fellowship awards range from $20,000 to $45,000. In support of their research, fellows will receive access to various resources and the library system at the University of Virginia and the archives available at the Library of Virginia. In addition, they will share their work publicly on Virginia Humanities’ With Good Reason radio show and present their scholarship at a cultural center/organization of their choice. Fellows are also encouraged to publish in our online resource, Encyclopedia Virginia. To learn more visit: https://virginiahumanities.
Virginia Humanities is the state humanities council. We’re headquartered in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, but we serve the entire state. We aim to share the stories of all Virginians—or, better yet, find ways for people to share their own stories. We want Virginians to connect with their history and culture and, in doing that, we hope we’ll all get to know each other a little better. Founded in 1974, we are one of 56 humanities councils created by Congress with money and support from the National Endowment for the Humanities to make the humanities available to all Americans.
Application deadline: March 2, 2025